Children's hospital in Cambodia urgently needs funds for dengue outbreak
18/6/2007 15:24
Cambodia's major children's hospital Kantha Bopha has announced a plan to
seek assistance of US$7 million from the government to treat children with
dengue fever, as more than 3,000 children have contracted the disease in just
the first 15 days of June, local media said today.
Hospital director Beat
Richner has been asking for assistance and recommendations from Prime Minister
Hun Sen to fight the spread of the disease, daily newspaper the Rasmei Kampuchea
quoted Lam Eng Hour, deputy director of the hospital, as saying.
Just on June
16, around 607 out of 2,144 children receiving treatment at all branches of the
hospital in Phnom Penh were infected with dengue fever, said Lam Eng Hour,
adding that around 6,000 children have been infected with the disease from the
early months of this year to the end of May.
Most of the children
hospitalized in the last few days are from Kompong Speu, Takeo, Kompong Cham,
Svay Rieng, Prey Veng, Kampot provinces and Phnom Penh, he said.
The disease
has killed 109 in all branches of the hospital in the first five months of the
year, according to another daily newspaper the Koh Santepheap.
Failure to
send children to hospitals in the early stages of the illness and the overuse of
drugs have led to the huge number of death, said Heng Taykry, secretary of state
at Ministry of Health, during his visit to the fourth branch of the
hospital.
The spread of the disease was worse than last year, when just US$3
million was needed for the children's diagnosis and treatment, he said.
The
hospital had six containers of medical supplies and now ran out of stock, but it
already purchased eight more containers of serums, drugs and medical supplies,
which are currently being transported to Cambodia, he added.
However, he
said, the hospital is hard to endure till next month if further assistance is
unavailable.
Xinhua
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